Aber Town Ladies increased the gap at the top of the table to four points after an outstanding performance against Merthyr Town Women to boost their promotion hopes, the Black and Greens finding the net seven times thanks to Tania Wylde (4), Cat Davies (2) and Naomi Evans, writes Steven Brookes.

For the third time this season, Aber's opposition were Merthyr Town Women with the Mid Wales side winning the previous games at Park Avenue (Cup - 5-0 and League - 3-2). Cat Davies was handed a first start since rejoining Aber this season and the forward got the visitors off to yet another great start when finding the net with a powerful low header after five minutes. A good start soon became an excellent start when Tania Wylde doubled the lead after just eight minutes. After Caroline Cooper's free kick came back of the post, it was Wylde who was able to find room in a crowded box and smash the ball into the net. Aber had chances to increase their lead further, Ffiona Evans heading narrowly wide whilst Cooper (denied by a great save and the post) and Wylde (denied by a diving save) both came close. Ffion Ashman did have to make two excellent saves at the other end, the saves being even more impressive considering Aber's number had very little to do until that point. Then, in a fantastic final eight first half minutes for the visitors, a two goal cushion quickly became five! Wylde with Aber's third on 37 minutes when getting a touch on Kelly Thomas's original effort, Naomi Evans then scored the fourth two minutes later with a composed and impressive side footed finish from the edge of the area and Cat Davies was on the scoresheet yet again before the half time break. An excellent free kick by Cooper alongside a perfectly timed run from Davies and a calm close range finish gave Aber a dream 5-0 lead by the end of the first half.

If anyone thought the team in Green had finished scoring then they were very quickly proved wrong. Barely 30 seconds had gone on the second half clock when Tania Wylde beat the defence and slotted the ball past the keeper to complete her hat-trick. The away side's top scorer wasn't going to settle for just three goals though. After a fantastic long ball from Ashman, Wylde raced past the defence before side footing the ball into the corner of the net, the goal machine's 18th goal in just 13 games. Aber came close to increasing their lead even further when Kelly Thomas saw her header hit the woodwork whilst Tania Wylde was later denied a fifth thanks to an excellent low save by the home side's keeper.

A fantastic result and a very impressive perfomance against a good Merthyr side mean Aber Town Ladies have now won nine games in a row and sit top of the table. Despite this, the Black and Greens will know the job is far from finished with eight important league matches remaining. Next up though is a very tough fixture against Llanfair United in the Central Wales Cup Quarter-Final. These two teams have regularly met in the final over the last few years with Llanfair coming out on top last season.